Singer, guitarist, writer, producer and leader of the multi-Platinum selling rock band April Wine
WELL, IT WAS A GREAT NIGHT AT MASSEY HALL. IT WAS AWESOME SEEING OLD FRIENDS AND MEETING SOME NEW ONES.
PICTURED HERE: JERRY MERCER, BRIAN GREENWAY AND I “REVEAL” APRIL WINE’S OFFICIAL WALK OF FAME STAR.
September 28, 2023
Inductees for Canada’s Walk of Fame:
L-R from the top row: April Wine, Chilliwack, Glass Tiger, Lee Aaron, Lighthouse, Loverboy, Max Webster, Michel Pagliaro, Platinum Blonde, PRISM, Rough Trade, The Parachute Club, Trooper
August 22, 2023
Live Canadian Rock Induction Event : Featuring April Wine
amongst other iconic musicians from the 70’s and 80’s.
Canada’s Walk of Fame : September 28th, 2023
July 11 2023
Year of Induction: 2023
Origin: Halifax, NS
Nova Scotia has produced no end of iconic songwriters, from country music legend Hank Snow to folk roots and pop artists Rita MacNeil, Denny Doherty, Jimmy Rankin, and Sarah McLachlan. The Bluenose province can also boast its contribution to rock, through Myles Goodwyn, principal songwriter of April Wine. Goodwyn has been called “unequivocally Canada’s greatest rock and roll songwriter.” Born in June 1948 in Woodstock, Nova Scotia, he was the oldest of three boys in a family of modest means. As a child he absorbed the country styles of Eddy Arnold, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Patsy Cline, and Hank Williams, and later early rock and roll. At age eleven he lost his mother to cancer and turned to music, learning Hank Snow’s songs on guitar and singing in his church choir. “Music was my salvation,” he remembered in his popular 2016 memoir, Just Between You and Me.
In 1969, searching for a fresh sound, Goodwyn and his long-time friend, Jim Henman, plus the latter’s cousins David and Ritchie Henman formed April Wine. Goodwyn explained, “The decision to go entirely original happened . . . when they heard me play a riff of a song I was working on. . . . they were floored by how heavy it rocked, and that was the inspiration for the declaration by all of us that we would, henceforth, be a 100 per cent original group.”
Six months later, on April 1, 1970, April Wine left Nova Scotia for Montréal, where they signed a recording deal with Aquarius Records. Their first album was released in 1971, which included their first single, the Goodwyn-written rocker Fast Train. It was a hit. In no time, April Wine became Aquarius’s top act and a highly popular touring band, playing in small and large cities across Canada. Goodwyn told the National Music Centre: “We were playing small places, anywhere, on the strength of the first album…. People were being bussed in from everywhere around to see the shows.”
April Wine became a multiple platinum-selling phenomenon, selling over 10 million records with Goodwyn-penned classics like Roller, I Wouldn’t Want to Lose Your Love, and I Like to Rock. Their album “The Whole World’s Goin’ Crazy” became the first Canadian album to sell over 100,000 copies.
April Wine’s top moments included opening for Stevie Wonder at the Montréal Forum in 1973; playing with the Rolling Stones at Toronto’s El Mocambo in 1977; and recording before a sold-out audience in 1981 for their “Live in London” album, recorded in London, England. And Goodwyn’s Enough is Enough was the first Canadian song aired on MTV.
April Wine members came and went over the years, with Goodwyn remaining as the only original member. After releasing 22 studio and two live albums, they disbanded in 1984. In 1993 the re-banded April Wine resumed touring, once again selling out shows continent-wide.
In March 2009, April Wine was inducted into the Canadian Music Industry Hall of Fame and received the JUNO Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2010, Goodwyn and April Wine were inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. They can also boast two Félix awards and several SOCAN Classic awards.
Goodwyn’s songs—in styles from edgy rock to romantic ballads, from country to blues—reveal variety and depth springing from a boundless well of talent. His subject matter is wide-ranging, encompassing piano classics such as Comin’ Right Down on Top of Me, Like a Lover, Like a Song and I Wouldn’t Want to Lose Your Love, the environmental song Lady Run, Lady Hide, and songs about the music business such as Rock N’ Roll Is a Vicious Game, Electric Jewels and Face the Storm. Nor is he afraid to tackle political topics: listen to Blood Money (the scandalous Clifford Olson payoff) and Some of These Children (unmarked residential school graves).
He is a hard-working master of his craft: “I worked diligently and tenaciously on becoming a good, consistent songwriter. To me it is the most important part of what I do. Always has been.”
Goodwyn’s musical achievements earned him the East Coast Music Lifetime Achievement Award and SOCAN’s National Achievement Award, for which he whole-heartedly acknowledges his bandmates’ contributions: “I know I was lucky to have this band to interpret my songs and to help make them as good as they could be by giving of their talents, unselfishly, time after time. I owe them much, and I hope they know that.”
Goodwyn also recorded two blues albums in 2018 and in 2019, garnished a JUNO nomination for Blues Album of the Year (2019) and won two ECMA Awards for Blues Album of the Year, back-to-back in 2018 and 2019. And he gives back to his community by supporting the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation of Canada since 2003 and as co-founder of Soleful Caring . . . Shoes for the Homeless, collecting and distributing “gently used” footwear for men and women, coast-to-coast in Canada. In 2022, Goodwyn released “For Ukraine,” which was written in support of the citizens of war-torn Ukraine. The song won him the SIFA award for Best Social Impact Music/Art 2022.
Goodwyn gave his final live performance with April Wine on March 2, 2023. But that doesn’t mean he’ll rest on his laurels: He will continue writing and producing for April Wine as the band will continue to tour with his artistic involvement, and his third blues recording will be released in the summer of 2023.
May 2, 2023 Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame
https://www.cshf.ca/songwriter/myles-goodwyn/#:~:text=Myles%20Goodwyn,CLOSE%20BIO
Myles Goodwyn
2023 Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame Inductee
Founding member of April Wine, Myles Goodwyn, will be celebrated during this year’s ECMAs for his induction into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame later this year.
Myles Goodwyn makes his return to the East Coast Music Awards after 20 years to accept his latest distinction from friend and fellow performer, Lennie Gallant. 
Learn more >> https://www.ecma.com/…/canadian-songwriters-hall-of…
Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame to Induct Rock n’ Roll Songwriter Myles Goodwyn
Toronto, ON (April 26, 2023) – In 2003, acclaimed songwriter and April Wine frontman Myles Goodwyn received the ECMA Lifetime Achievement Award for his impact on the music industry of Atlantic Canada. Exactly 20 years later, he’ll return to the East Coast Music Awards to accept his latest distinction as the newest Inductee to the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame (CSHF). Considered by many as one of Canada’s greatest rock n’ roll songwriters, the CSHF will celebrate Goodwyn’s catalogue of songs penned for April Wine, spanning more than five decades.
On May 4, the CSHF will present Goodwyn with the award at the ECMAs in Halifax, NS; and later this year, his name will be included in the permanent exhibit at the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame Museum in the National Music Centre in Calgary, as the organization commemorates 25 years of celebrating Canada’s greatest songs and songwriters.
The 35th Annual East Coast Music Awards Presented by Rogers will be broadcast across the country on selected community television stations including Rogers TV, and available to view online at ECMA.com and RogersTV.com. Announced performers include Jimmy Rankin, Nick Earle, Christine Campbell and Colin MacDonald; with friend, and Right Myself collaborator, Lennie Gallant presenting to Goodwyn. Tickets available at ECMA.com.
“To be inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, has been a wish of mine for many years. It is possibly the most significant award I’ve ever received. What has mattered most to me, for all my years in the business, was to be taken seriously as a songwriter,” says Myles Goodwyn.
Goodwyn gave his final live performance with April Wine on March 2nd, 2023, as the only remaining original member of the iconic rock group.
“After more than 50 years of touring and performing as the voice and songwriter behind April Wine, we’re thrilled to be able to induct Myles and his iconic body of work into the CSHF,” said Stan Meissner, Board Chairman. “On behalf of all music fans, we thank Myles for sharing his gift as a songwriter, singer, guitarist, and performer who has given us the soundtrack to a generation; and he’ll continue to inspire a new generation as the creative force behind the next evolution of April Wine.”
He founded April Wine in 1969 with long-time friend, Jim Henman, and Henman’s cousins David and Ritchie Henman in Nova Scotia. Less than a year later, the group moved to Montreal to sign a record deal with Aquarius Records, and embarked on a “Fast Train” to success.
Their first album was released in 1971, which included their first hit single Fast Train written by Goodwyn; followed by penned classics like Roller, I Wouldn’t Want to Lose Your Love, and I Like to Rock. Their album “The Whole World’s Goin’ Crazy” became the first Canadian album to sell over 100,000 copies.
Goodwyn’s songs ranged in styles from edgy rock to romantic ballads, from country to blues – and his subject matter was just as wide-ranging, encompassing piano classics such as Comin’ Right Down on Top of Me, Like a Lover, Like a Song and I Wouldn’t Want to Lose Your Love, and the environmental song Lady Run, Lady Hide.
He also wasn’t afraid to tackle political topics in Some of These Children (bringing awareness to unmarked residential school graves), and 2022’s “For Ukraine”, which was written in support of the citizens of war-torn Ukraine, garnering him the SIFA Award for Best Social Impact Music/Art 2022.
As a hardworking master of his craft Goodwyn has said, “I worked diligently and tenaciously on becoming a good, consistent songwriter. To me it is the most important part of what I do. Always has been.”
April Wine disbanded in 1984, after releasing 22 studio and two live albums. They re-banded in 1993 and resumed touring, once again selling out shows continent-wide. In March 2009, April Wine was inducted into the Canadian Music Industry Hall of Fame and received the JUNO Lifetime Achievement Award. Goodwyn and April Wine were also inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 2010 and have garnered two Félix Awards as well as several SOCAN Classic Awards.
Goodwyn will continue writing and producing for April Wine as the band continues to tour with his artistic involvement; and his third blues recording will be released in the summer of 2023.
ABOUT CANADIAN SONGWRITERS HALL OF FAME
2023 will mark the 25th anniversary of the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame (CSHF), a national and non-profit organization that is dedicated to honouring and celebrating Canadian songwriters and those who’ve dedicated their lives to the legacy of music. The CSHF also works to educate the public about these achievements, and to foster the next generation of songwriters through year-round initiatives and events. In December of 2011, SOCAN (the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada) acquired the CSHF; however, the Hall of Fame continues to be run as a separate organization and is guided by its own Board of Directors, comprised of both Anglophone and Francophone music creators and publishers, as well as representation from the record industry. The CSHF’s mandate aligns with SOCAN’s objectives as a songwriter and publisher membership-based organization. www.cshf.ca
https://www.cshf.ca/2023-inductions-myles-goodwyn/
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Media Contact:
Tran Nguyen, Centric PR
tran@centricpr.ca
c/416-220-4285
What a great night tonight was. It was a real pleasure working with Dan Hill, I hope we get to do more shows together.
The audience was fantastic and the staff just terrific.
Thanks to all.
Flato Markham Theatre April 22, 2023
It was about a year ago that Dan asked me to join him for a two man appearance at the beautiful Flato Markham Theatre in Markham, Ontario. I immediately said yes.
We met several years ago at a songwriters circle and became friends. I look forward to the show.
April 22, 2023
Flato Theatre
Box Office: 171 Town Centre Boulevard
Markham, Ontario, L3R 8G5
Phone: 905.305.7469
I’m looking forward to this show at the Carleton in June and more shows to come with buddys, Matt and Bryan.
Live at the Carleton, Halifax, N.S.
Friday June 28th & 29th 2023
MYLES GOODWYN 